Cover Story
Trust, communication & fun
Kristin Geer is trying to add to her current staff some senior software developers who would be tasked with helping Bleachr LLC add some new features to its mobile apps in 2019, but she’s finding the job market a challenge. Unemployment remains low and her 25-employee company is competing with the likes of Target Corp. […] Continue reading →
Letter From the Editor
Editor’s Note
If you need a kick in the pants to start the new year, may I present Jacquie Berglund, CEO and, as she calls herself, “Rambunctious Social Entrepreneur,” at Finnegans Brew Co. I spent a delightful hour with her the other day at her stunning new brewhouse and taproom in the Elliot Park neighborhood on the […] Continue reading →
Back Page
Back Page
Women business owners in central Minnesota gained access to new tools, trainings and peer groups late in 2018 when the Entrepreneur Fund opened a Women’s Business Alliance location in Little Falls. The 30-year-old Entrepreneur Fund also has a Women’s Business Alliance location in Duluth. The Entrepreneur Fund received a grant from the U.S. […] Continue reading →
Focus
Trust your instincts
When Upsize caught up with Mary Leonard in 2004, she was coming to the realization that she needed to believe in her instincts. Leonard had started Chocolat Céleste in 2001 with the intention of serving the high-end business gift market via the Internet with an artisanal product created for a less price-conscious consumer. Along the […] Continue reading →
Business Builders
Finance
Will the Federal Reserve raise interest rates again this quarter? Over the past three years the Fed has been steadily raising rates to push a return to “normal” after nearly a decade of almost zero percent rates. 2018 was no exception, it saw a hefty increase. At the end of last year and into 2019, […] Continue reading →
Retention
MINNESOTA IS HOME to one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, a statistic that has many local job seekers beaming with confidence. For businesses, a low unemployment rate suggests a tight hiring market where skilled workers are harder to find and competition for those workers is high. Once companies have hired a top […] Continue reading →
Law
APART FROM A PUBLIC relations nightmare, the single biggest obstacle in the path of a growing company, particularly a small one, is the prospect of a lawsuit. This is particularly true if the lawsuit is brought against you, because you have no ability to simply make it go away. Never underestimate the cost of a […] Continue reading →
Hiring
IN JUNE 2018, the unemployment rate nationwide dipped below 4 percent and it has hovered below that point ever since. The situation is even tighter in Minnesota. Because we’re overachievers in the Bold North, our unemployment rates are nearly a full percentage point lower than the national average. At less than 3 percent unemployment, basically […] Continue reading →
